Några första utlåtanden av tv-serien från några som fanns på plats på Comic-Con där "Falling Skies" fanns representerade. Verkar som att de inte var alltför imponerade och jämförde med "Stargate", "Independence Day", "War of the Worlds" och "Jericho". Vad är det för fel på dem, undrar jag då? Ja, förutom den sistnämnda som gör mig en aning orolig om "Falling Skies" kan jämföras med den...
TNT gives sneak of Spielberg’s ‘Falling Skies’
July 23rd, 2010
TNT's mysterious alien invasion drama produced by Steven Spielberg became a lot less mysterious by the end of its Comic-Con panel.
"Falling Skies" looks pretty ... familiar. Earth is attacked by bad guys from outer space, 80% of the population is destroyed, a ragtag group of survivors fight back.
skies TNT gives sneak of Spielbergs Falling SkiesWill post the trailer once it becomes available (which is becoming repetitive, I know, I'm frustrated too).
Basically it all looks ... yeah, familiar. "Independence Day," "War of the Worlds," "Jericho."
One storytelling item: We won't see the invasion itself (TNT has money ... but not that much money), but instead the story will begin in the aftermath. The show uses kids' drawings to depict what happened which, as low-cost solutions to showing the end of the world go, is a pretty neat one.
TNT promised "Skies" will be the "Television Event of 2011," so it's setting the bar pretty high.
What I was most reminded of, because we just saw it, was AMC's "The Walking Dead," which explores similar themes, but whose trailer was emotionally more impactful.
"These become the architects of the next Constitution," said star Noah Wylie, bearded. "If we had something hit the reset button what are the aspects we'd want to retain from the life before?"
As for what the aliens want, exec prod Mark Verheiden said, "We know what they want, and we're not going to tell you."
Comic-Con: Spielberg-Produced Falling Skies Footage Fails to Impress
July 23rd, 2010
Earlier today, I was floored by the footage of Frank Darabont’s television adaptation of the Walking Dead. Unfortunately, I wish the same could be said of what I’ve seen of the Steven Spielberg-produced Falling Skies for TNT. The show — created by Robert Rodat (screenwriter for Saving Private Ryan, and The Patriot) — stars TNT-regular Noah Wyle (ER, The Librarian) and sci-fi regular Moon Bloodgood (Journeyman, Terminator Salvation) as everyday people whose lives are overturned when aliens invade and wipe out 80 percent of humanity. Oh yah, and they fried the electrical grid as well. Fuckers.
Series writer and co-exec producer Mark Verheiden joined Bloodgood and Wyle on stage at San Diego’s Comic-Con to talk about the series and show off its first footage in a (very) short trailer. The trailer starts off with a child’s narration of the alien invasion — something that was Spielberg’s idea, according to Verheiden. We see clips of the human resistance (which looks very much like every ragtag group of resistance fighters so typical in sci-fi), a few glancing shots of the alien spaceships, and brief glimpses at the aliens themselves.
It’s certainly far too early to judge the series completely, and some of the footage may be reworked by its release next June, but I can’t help but notice how TV-like the series appears to be. The action seems on the level of a Stargate series, as do the special effects (both minuses in my book). For an invasion series with Spielberg’s pedigree, I was expecting something a bit more. It also doesn’t help that it’s chock full of many scenes so familiar to invasion stories since War of the Worlds.
But while I’m not so hot on what I’ve seen, both Wyle and Bloodgood seemed to have fallen in love with the material. Wyle mentioned that he was hesitant to get into another television project, but the strength of the pilot script convinced him that he had to be involved. He plays Tom Mason, a former Boston University professor who specialized in the American Revolution — something which makes him well versed in military strategy. His wife was killed in the initial invasion, and one of his sons was abducted by the aliens (they hinted that the aliens want to steal adolescents for some reason).
Verheiden mentioned that the series was originally called Concord — a reference to one of the first battles in the American Revolution — and that it originally had more direct parallels to that war as well. They ended up relaxing that stance to be more flexible about the direction of the series.
Bloodgood listed her (obvious) affinity for science fiction as one of the main reasons for signing on, and that she was also taken with the story of her character — a former pediatrician who lost both her husband and young child in the alien invasion. Unlike many of her previous roles, she doesn’t take up arms or kick any ass (yet). Her character instead seems to serve as a way to remind Mason and the resistance of their humanity.
I’m hoping that future footage looks better, because I’m a fan of both actors. Verheiden also mentioned that Justified writer and showrunner Graham Yost was contributing to the series, although he was somewhat vague on how exactly. At this point, it seems like he may contribute a script or two during the series’ first season. Whatever his involvement, the fact that his name is attached to the series in some fashion is enough to give me hope. For now.